BEIRUT, Lebanon - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country has been leading international mediation efforts, expressed his hope that the Lebanese will elect a president on Friday. "There are two days left and I hope that the leaders of this country will pick a candidate," Kouchner told reporters after meeting with the influential leader of the Maronite Christian church, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir.

Asked if he is planning to stay in Beirut until 23rd November, Ha added "I will, certainly".

Three sessions to elect a successor to incumbent pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud were postponed over the past two months amid a lack of consensus between the Western-backed majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition.

Several officials contacted by AFP said the latest delay was intended to give the feuding sides a last chance to strike a deal before Lahoud’s mandate expires at midnight (2200 GMT) Friday.

"We are totally deadlocked and this is what Syria wants," pro-government MP Solange Gemayel told AFP. "Syria wants a constitutional void and wants to impose on us someone under their influence."

She said the opposition, which is also backed by Syrian ally Iran, was insisting that the name of only one candidate — former minister Michel Edde — be submitted for a vote in parliament.

"It is out of the question for the majority to accept Edde because as far as we are concerned he is pro-Syrian," said Gemayel, the widow of president-elect Beshir Gemayel, who was assassinated just days before taking office in 1982.

Kouchner and Arab League chief Amr Mussa meanwhile shuttled between the rival sides to try to persuade them to reach a compromise.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy also dispatched two top aides, Claude Gueant and Jean-David Levitte, to Damascus to discuss the Lebanese crisis with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, for the second time in two weeks.

French presidential spokesman David Martinon announced the visit in Paris and said in a statement: "The Lebanese must have the possibility to choose their next president freely, without foreign intervention."

Fears are running high that failure to meet Friday’s deadline could spur the formation of two governments, a grim reminder of the end of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war when two competing administrations battled it out. -AFP